On Thu, 2010-09-23 at 00:05 +0530, A. Mani wrote: > While arguing against s/w patents, nobody should try justifying other > forms of patents.
But I think patents also do some good. As RMS says, patents on real things are different, and may be desirably because they help to bring knowledge into the public domain that otherwise could have been lost. An example is the well-known Aranmula Kannadi of Kerala - a metallic mirror made from an alloy like bell metal. Only one family knew how to make it, and now just one person. If they could have patented the invention, the knowledge will never have been lost. Now, we hope this one person who has the know-how will teach someone else. Very possibly, there are many such examples. The problem, I think, is the misuse of these laws, taking them to absurd limits and to domains where they are not applicable. -- V. Sasi Kumar Free Software Foundation of India http://swatantryam.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ network mailing list [email protected] http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in
